6.  The applicant company has its registered office in Luxembourg.
7.  On 17 December 2008 the Portuguese-language newspaper Contacto Semanário (hereafter “Contacto”), published by the applicant company in Luxembourg, printed an article describing the situation of families who had lost custody of their children. The Central Social Welfare Department (SCAS) had allegedly instigated the withdrawal of custody in the cases concerned. The journalist reported on the case of two teenagers and the social worker dealing with their case, providing names. The teenage girl had reportedly suffered attempted rape and the teenage boy had allegedly burnt a friend with a cigarette. The article had been signed “Domingos Martins”.
8.  The list of officially recognised journalists in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by the Press Council includes no journalist of that name. The list contains the names of several hundred journalists in alphabetical order of their surnames. Under the letter “D” is a journalist named De Araujo Martins Domingos Alberto.
9.  The social worker complained about the article to the Director of the SCAS, who in turn complained to the Attorney General, contending that it amounted to defamation both of this specific social worker and of the Luxembourg judicial and social system in general. On 5 January 2009 the social worker also lodged a complaint.
10.  On 30 January 2009 the public prosecutor of the Luxembourg District Court opened a judicial investigation in respect of a person or persons unknown, for a breach of section 38 of the Youth Welfare Act (amended) of 10 August 1992, as well as defamation or calumny.
11.  On 30 March 2009 an investigating judge issued a search and seizure warrant in respect of the registered office of the applicant company, in the latter’s capacity as the publisher of Contacto “in order to search and seize any documents and items, in whatever form and on whatever medium, connected with the offences charged, including any element conducive to identifying the perpetrator of the offence or the Contacto newspaper employee who wrote the article in issue which was published in Contacto on 17 December 2008”.
12.  On 7 May 2009 police officers visited the newspaper’s premises (at the applicant company’s registered office) with the warrant. The Government explained that when the investigators had visited the newspaper’s premises, the aim of this investigatory measure had been solely, in their own minds, to identify the author of the article in question. The Government cited in evidence the following passage from the 11 May 2009 police report on the search (original German):
“In order to ascertain the identity of the author of the article ... the authority [the investigating judge] issued a search warrant. Prior to the execution of this warrant, the procedure was clarified with the authority [the investigating judge]. It was decided that the search was exclusively geared to clearly identifying of the author of the article.”
13.  The journalist who had written the article gave the police officers a copy of the newspaper, a notebook, various documents (including judicial decisions on one of the subjects of the article) on which the article had been based, and a computer file and CD containing the article. The case file shows that the journalist, assisted by the lawyer of the publishing house and the editor-in-chief of Contacto at the time of the search, signed the search report without availing himself of the option of adding comments.
14.  According to the applicant company, their cooperation had been forced on them as the police officers had impressed upon the journalist that in view of the search and seizure warrant he had no option but to cooperate.
However, it emerged from an internal report drawn up by the applicant company on 8 May 2009 that the journalist told the police officers “that he had no objection to giving them a copy [of his] notes” and that the editor-in-chief of the newspaper had suggested handing over an electronic version of the article to the police officers. The same report stated that a police officer had inserted a USB memory stick into the journalist’s computer. The applicant company pointed out that it did not know whether he copied any files, although the case file showed that the police officers had at no stage been left alone on the premises. When the police officer had inserted the USB memory stick into the computer the applicant company’s lawyer had been present and had not objected.
The 11 May 2009 police report on the search stated that the journalist, with the agreement of the editor-in-chef, had said that he was prepared to cooperate with the police. The police officers had replied that they had not expected any other reaction but nevertheless handed him the investigating judge’s warrant, explaining that in the event of refusal to cooperate, pressure could be brought to bear.
15. The 11 May 2009 police report also pointed out that the journalist had voluntarily handed over his notebook and a copy of the article to the police officers. He had also volunteered to show them, unbidden, the version of the article prepared on his computer and offered them a copy. Finally, he had also handed over a set of documents. The police officers had noted that the items taken away had been voluntarily presented and had exclusively served to exonerate the journalist, and there had been no mention of the of protection sources. In conclusion, they had stressed that the operation, which had taken between twelve and fifteen minutes, had taken place without any pressure and in a polite, respectful manner.
16.  No objection was raised in the domestic courts as to the accuracy of either the police report or the record of items seized.
17.  On 10 May 2009 the applicant company and the journalist applied to the chambre du conseil of the District Court to have the search and seizure warrant in issue and its execution declared null and void.
18.  On 11 May 2009 the investigating judge of his own motion ordered the discontinuation of the seizure and the return of all the documents and items seized during the search.
19.  On 20 May 2009 the chambre du conseil of the District Court ruled that the application to have the search and seizure declared null and void was unfounded.
20.  In a declaration of 29 May 2009 the applicant company and the journalist lodged a fresh appeal against that decision.
21.  On 27 October 2009 the chambre du conseil of the Court of Appeal upheld the order appealed against.
22.  The applicant company did not inform the Court of any action taken on this search of its premises.